The last time Björn passed through the fjord, things had been different. Far different. What a difference, a year would bring. His mother had walked among them, and they'd adventured far to the south. Down to Auster, down to see another pack... he'd been a prince then. He'd meant something to the world around him, and had a future to stand on. It had been a tiring journey, but surrounded by his siblings, his parents, everything had been fun. Now? He regarded the chilly waters with a harsh gaze.

It's filled with ghosts. A scowl paints his rugged features, looking out over the landscape. Steep sides, funneling down to the water below. Taking a long look out over the sea, drinking in the salty air. It would only grow harsher as he traveled south, and he'd only feel worse traveling south alone. At least the heat of the summer has burned off some, being this close to the ocean. Not a bad place to camp for the night, especially as it was quickly approaching. Familiar, in the same way walking through a dream can be. Björn would ignore the aching in his chest for now. Try to drink in the scenery. Let himself explore, now that he's unbound.

"Björn"

This would not be the first nor the last time she would traverse this territory. Familiar rocks and bubbling stream beneath a peculiar blood-red sky encircled Calliope in an uncomfortable way. She couldn't explain or understand what had caused the sky to change colors, but she could ignore it for now. Her heart was missing... something. Maybe it was that sweet Barghest or the slim Ivy. Their love had soaked her to the bone, but had not quenched her thirst. No, what she needed was...

Standing right in front of her.

Stopping in her tracks, her pastel gaze fluttered a few times. The last time she had seen the shadow, they had both been young and she had not grown into her adult colors. Gone was the vast array of colors and in its place a swath of lilac and cotton candy pink. Quite a delicate appearance for a girl full of venom.

Once her brain had clicked that it truly was him, Calliope puts on her more flirtatious smile and approaches. No, she prowls toward him like the predator that she is. "My, my, do my eyes deceive me?" She purrs, lashes fluttering and tail lashing back and forth as she closes the distance between them. "And I thought you'd run from my clutches permanently," there's a certain sort of pout to her lips that shows she's disappointed, but also teasing him.

"Speech"

A blood red seeping through the sky, eerie and brilliant. Björn didn't have an explanation, not beyond what he'd already seen. The stories of his father's people, the onset of Ragnarök, blooms close in his mind. For as grim as it is, he can't say he's not enchanted by it. Drawn in, excited, in the worst way. Still, it's a thought for another day. Once he's gotten his feet better under him, once he's recovered from the falling out with his father. Björn could only pretend that he wasn't still reeling from the experience, fresh wounds concealed under his thick coat.

He's not alone with his thoughts for long, the girl melting from the shadowy fjord-- that couldn't be real. Björn was hallucinating, or at least, convinced he was until she spoke. They'd met here the first time, when they were only children. It seemed both had grown into themselves considerably, in the time since they'd last met. One eyebrow quirking, a rakish grin splitting his rough features as she neared.

Pretty, pretty as the fjord around them. Björn unwound from his place, carefully tucked in among the steep, rocky sides. The grasses below were still lush, summer here milder but no less plentiful. Between the steep sides and the inlet, this was a place capable of making its own weather. Temperate, even cool, under the blood red sky. A picture so strange, it would be unforgettable in time. Beneath is paws, the ground hardly feels real.

"Run from you? Never, skitsnygg," his voice deeper than the last time, brassy. Shoulders rolling as he moves, flexing his muscles. "Nothing is permanent, you know." A wink, though the bitterness isn't entirely chased from his tone. Allowing it to consume him, allowing it to taint his already tormented head-- what could go wrong? What could go wrong that wasn't already wrong, inside the troubled creature. Easy does it. Moving to stand face to face with the girl of his dreams, Björn assess her openly.

"Björn"

Pleasure is the exact thing that rolls through her as he turns his ice cold gaze upon her figure. He's grown into a handsome man with a thick, brassy voice that sends tingles sizzling in her veins. A pleased rumble moves up her throat, giving the impression of a cat's purr. Taking another step closer, slowly, each toe touching the group at a time, she takes her time. It was the temptation, the electricity, the anticipation that excited her. Keep him hanging on the edge just long enough until he's begging on his knees.

Calliope assesses him back. Eyes unashamedly running over his corded muscles, brazen appearance. Carnal hunger lights in her belly, teeth pressing together as her lips crinkles ever so slightly. "Seems you know that better than I," Calliope hums, taking another slow, lazy step forward. She can see past the façade, see the bitterness at the edges of his expression. Had something happened to the poor boy who had once been on top of the world?

"Do I dare ask what you have been up to?" Her head cants ever so lightly, eyes wide, brow slightly arched. Would he give in?

"Speech"

Tension so thick you could slice it with a knife, spreading in the space between them. Björn straightening to his full height, showing off as he moves closer to the girl. A spark that can't be put out. Slinking, creeping nearer. His gaze is steady on her... far more a woman than a girl, at this point. Filling out, though there would be time yet before they were truly adult. Hell, there's a breed of children in these lands, who considered themselves adults long before reaching that break point. Björn and Calliope are cut from similar cloth. Made of the same stuff, and washed clean by the same fire.

Savoring her company and the red night spread before them, even if he's unsettled by the night spread around them. The trees provided cover, so much cover. Cover for them, and whatever they may get up to tonight. Cover for things lurking beyond sight, and that's perhaps the worst of it all. A deceptively secretive atmosphere, winding around his shoulders and keeping them both hidden from prying eyes. Björn finds comfort in it, letting the nature of the fjord take hold and live in his system.

The tumult in his head is amplified by her presence. A predatory step closer, he's just out of her reach now. "I've gone from crown prince to nothing, in the eyes of my father and his laws. In an instant, at the hands of an old man who's losing his mind." The words come as a hiss, Björn bristling. "It's a good thing their laws mean nothing to the gods." Disowned is perhaps too strong a word, his name hadn't been stripped, but the falling out had been bloody. His tone shifts to something conspiratorial. There are too many thoughts in his head, and all of them scream revolution. Anarchy is the only way.

"Where have you been hiding from me?" Carefully watching the girl's face, taking her in as he errs ever closer. Leaning in, tense, curious. Just as predatory, resting on the edge of danger. Always on the edge.

"Björn"

There is truth behind the way they look at each other. Face to face, inches apart. Electricity crackling through the tension that sits heavy between them. One would think they should just fight or fuck to get it over with, but no. This feeling, this thing hanging in the balance between them is what elicited the emotion in Calliope. Teetering on the edge of violence or sex that she couldn't explain to anyone else.

His gruff vocals breaks her hazy trance. Blinking softly, she cants her head the other way, listening to his sullen tale. A chiding 'tsk' clicks between her tongue and teeth, her head giving a soft shake. "The gods know nothing of this world we live in," Calliope's own hissing tones snake out, breaking some of the tension as she too steps forward. Mere centimeters separate them. She can see the hairs on his face, each whisker, the way his eyes stay holding on her. She cared not for any god because she wrote her own damn story.

Speaking of...

A chuckle lights the space, her lips curling up as she pulls back from him for a moment to her full height. "Unlike you, I do stand as one of the crown princesses," the taunting venom in her voice is an obvious bride at his sad story. Calliope's eyes sparkle, waiting to see what he'll do. How self absorbed was the shadow? "I've been busy..." she smiles like a snake ready to strike, knowing it is going to get it's kill. There is a lot hidden behind her words, an insinuation that she knew he couldn't even begin to imagine.

"Speech"

Cat and mouse, predator and prey-- dynamics Björn is accustomed to. This is something different. Something far more electric, as they stand on the precipice. She's no simple girl, and there's something that prevents him from pushing everything over the edge. Unpredictable, tense, threads woven between them constantly shifting and changing. Tension with no release, in ways that were bound to drive one or both of them mad eventually. He revels in it.

Nose to nose, they're both tense. Ready to spring at any moment, but spring into what? "They know what they need to." Something intense dancing over his face, a shadow somewhere behind his eyes. Choking back the volatility. Refusing to relinquish control, at least not yet. Though his grip slips, Björn hangs on.

Crown princess, salt in the wound. "Princes, princesses-- taking a kingdom that's handed by some birthright. Sounds good in theory, but you could be so much better than that." Tipping his chin, gazing carefully at the girl through narrowed eyes. Earning it. He's on a collision course with blood and destiny, now. Björn's lips only a breath from hers, words slipping forth nearly silken.

"What a shame you've been too busy for me, we could be well on our way to bigger and better things by now." Though the depth of her implication is lost on the boy, there's a jealous spark in his chest. Something he's feeling a little too revolutionary to give into, at least in this instant. Something alight in his steely gaze, Björn stands straighter. Neck arched, using his scant height advantage in ways that count. He fills the space, gaze burning. Rage, grief, need, want, and hunger all rolled into one.

"Björn"

The tension continues to build. Where he is the shadow, she is the light. Yin and yang, two halves of one whole, but both equally just as terrible. To see them both wearing crowns would spell tragedy. Devastation would follow in their steps. Yet, as she stares into his piercing pools of stormy grey, she wonders what greatness they could amount to. What if she were to truly apply herself? Where would it lead? Enticed by the idea that perhaps he could be a good thing to keep around, Calliope chuckles softly.

"What bigger and better things?" She pushes, inquires, probes. If he has no good answer, she knows it was for good that she hadn't stuck around. But if he has something in plan, then she could be convinced to stick around. Plus, he was growing into quite a handsome lad that makes her mouth water even only for a little bit. Even though her groin warms more for females, she didn't mind a round or two with males as long as they weren't too pushy.

"I have grown somewhat bored of my current reign," Calliope adds, hoping that it adds to the lure that he should indulge her.

"Speech"

Björn⁢ shifts his weight, leaning in. Only a breath from the girl, words weighty enough to fill the nominal space between them. The rot prince can't help himself, watching her gaze steadily as he speaks. Holding it, refusing to break it. An intensity that can't be overstated, rigid and unyielding. Björn⁢'s convictions are strong, unshakable even. A fire stoked by his father's rejection, and all the things that follow. The horrible things within him sinking their claws in deeper, refusing to let him go. It's for the best.

Or the worst.

"How many kids of our age are fed by the system? Bored, complacent, or worse-- growing fat and lazy with crowns placed on their heads?" Conviction bleeding through his words, leaning into Calliope's space as he speaks. "I'm going to gather the strongest of us together. We can show them what they're missing out on, and show the older generations that they're not safe. Their complacency is going to be their undoing." Tense, though words come through like a preacher giving his sermon. Björn⁢ has always been a harbinger, and this time he comes with dark tidings for the rest.

"We're going to carve our names into the world tree, and into the land. All of this relative peace," he spits the word, hackles lifting across his shoulder blades. "It's done them no good. We'll take what wasn't earned, from those who don't deserve it. And then we'll take everything else." Björn⁢ watches the girl carefully as he says his piece, each word dripping with venom and dogma.

"Björn"

Calliope does not budge and does not falter when Bjorn enters her space. She stands firm, paws planted against the slick stone beneath them. Her pastel gaze meets his, a fire in both their eyes that speaks volumes. Their destinies hung in a fine balance and every decision they made would carve their paths. What he speaks, what he tempts her with, is delectable and honestly hard to refuse. Burning the world from the ground up would be everything of her dreams. And with a handsome man at her side? Oh, how delicious!

Yet, she sees it. Lingering in his vision, in his words. To Bjorn, he would be ruler. He would be the one calling the shots. For as good as they could be together, they would be frightfully terrible. It would be a constant power struggle between them. She was not meant to share the spotlight - even if she was waiting for her moment with her sisters. They soon would terrorize the world as they know it.

Silence settles over their electrifying tension. Their breath intermingles, twisting and twirling as their noses practically touch. The fur along her spine and scruff bristles as well as her belly curls with enticement and pleasure. She yearns and loves that heat that spreads throughout her groin. The simple thought of fury and violence made her mouth water. It took all of her strength not to take the boy right then and there, out in the open for everyone to see.

Excruciatingly slow, Calliope closes the centimeters worth of distance between them. Smashing her lips upon his, her front teeth grasp at his lower lip, pulling sharply before releasing. A harsh exhale leaves her parted mouth as her brilliant pastel gaze stays firm upon his ice blues. "You drive a hard bargain," Calliope's husky tone is a bare whisper in the chilly air between them. "Return to me when you have built a formidable group and I will consider it," she spoke carefully as her heart hammered in her chest. She had to play her cards right or everything might crash and burn. If the hopeful and fiery shadow could prove himself a worthy leader, she might just take the risk.

"Speech"